Thelymitra luteocilium, commonly called the fringed sun orchid, is a species of orchid that is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has a single fleshy, dark green leaf and up to six pale pink to reddish flowers with a short wavy lobe on top of the column.
Thelymitra luteocilium is a tuberous, perennial herb with a single fleshy, channelled, dark green, linear to lance-shaped leaf NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. Between two and six pale pink to reddish flowers NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide are arranged on a flowering stem NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 tall. The sepals and petals are NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. The column is pink to reddish, NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and about 3sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. The lobe on the top of the anther has a dense fringe and a yellow tip with a dark collar. The side lobes have dense, yellow, mop-like tufts on their ends. The flowers are self-pollinated and open only slowly on hot, humid days. Flowering occurs from August to October.[1] [2] [3]
Thelymitra luteocilium was first formally described in 1882 by Robert Fitzgerald and the description was published in The Gardeners' Chronicle.[4] [5] The specific epithet (luteocilium) is derived from the Latin words luteus meaning "yellow"[6] and cilium meaning "eyelash".
The fringed sun orchid mostly grows near low shrubs in forest and scrubland in central-western Victoria and eastern South Australia.